What are the new course options?

By isabellaposchmann'19 on February 14, 2018

“Course Selection”. This phrase may instill fear in some, who, up until the Thursday night, the day before the portal closed, still had no idea what to take next year. For others, it’s an exciting opportunity to check out which classes are going to run, or maybe even a reminder that February break is right around the corner. Either way, (hopefully) all BHS students planning to return next year signed up for classes. While selecting courses, you may have noticed changes in some subjects. This year, there has been several additions, subtractions, and changes made to some classes that will impact the BHS community as a whole.

AP European History: Up until the 2017-2018 school year, Advanced Placement European History (AP Euro) has run as a Humanities course open to sophomores, juniors, and seniors. Unfortunately, it was cancelled for the 2017-2018 school year, likely due to lack of interest, with the promise that it would return for the following school year of 2018-2019. But when students opened the portal on Friday, February 2nd, some were confused and disappointed as to why AP Euro was not even offered as an option. Even if it was the administration’s ultimate decision to run this class next year, it still made sense to offer it in order to evaluate interest in the class, right? Thankfully, this story culminates in a happy ending- a few days before the portal closed, AP European History was added as a course selection option, much to the delight of many students.

IB World Religions: Another class that had students fretting was IB World Religions. This class will make its debut in the 2018-2019 school year, thanks to a few last minute tweaks to the class registration portal. A prerequisite to this course was the World Religions elective, which must be taken as either a freshman, sophomore, or junior. However, this requirement understandably sent some incoming seniors into a tizzy, as some of them were IB Diploma Candidates who needed this class to receive their Diploma, and not all of them were accepted into the prerequisite when they attempted to sign up for it in previous years. After this problem was brought to the administration’s attention, they dropped the requirement of a prerequisite- and interest soared from a whopping 1 student to 24 students.

IB Business Management: Although this class technically remained unchanged in PowerSchool, there is still a recent update regarding this class that seems newsworthy. Students have the option to sign up for, take, and test in IB Business Management for their IB Diploma, in place of signing up for, taking, and testing in IB History II. This year marks the first time that someone has actually taken advantage of this opportunity, even though this option technically is not new. However, although these classes may seem interchangeable, there are several implications that come with this switch, including the difference between HL and SL, and more limited options for Group 6 testing.

Geometry of Art: One of the new math classes coming for the 2018-2019 year, this class appears to have high levels of interest among incoming seniors. The only prerequisite for this course is Geometry, and it’s only a semester long. In this class, students analyze historical structures such as the Egyptian Pyramids, the Parthenon, and buildings from the Renaissance in Europe, as well as various forms of art that originate from China, Japan, and many other places. Perhaps this class seems so popular because it also incorporates an aspect of culture into mathematics, something that seems relatively rare.

Statistics of Sports: Another math class new to the 2018-2019 school year, the Statistics of Sports can be seen as an alternative to AP Statistics, a rigorous college-level statistics class. Another half-credit class with Algebra II as the only prerequisite, Statistics of Sports holds a lot of promise among many incoming seniors as well. Although it focuses on the analysis of data in sports, there are also many individual research projects in the Statistics of Sports, providing an opportunity for creativity in a math class.

There you have it, folks! Although course selection may seem daunting at first, these interesting additions can spice up your next school year. If you signed up for any of these classes, congrats! Each new class holds a lot of promise and even if you don’t enjoy it one hundred percent, you’ll undoubtedly learn something from it.